Financial Service Info

In the USA, over 4,000 people drown every year, making it the fourth leading cause of accidental death (American Institute for Preventive Medicine). 1/3 of the people who drown each year are children under the age of 14. Could something as simple as a Pool Alarm save thousands of lives each year? The concept behind [...]

While Brussels would have you believe that all euro notes are created equal, that’s not strictly true. Here’s a little-known trick I learnt today thanks to my colleague Simon Watkins. It’s how to tell what country a euro note comes from (the one pictured below is from France).   Every euro note has a serial number on [...]

I remember reading as an undergrad that artificial countries will never work out. Good examples are the former Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. We can never integrate people and their spaces together with other people and their spaces if they are different culturally. We need very strong leaders to hold such constructs together. In recent times, we [...]

As we approach D-Day for UK voters many are looking at the mechanics of a hung parliament and how power could be negotiated between the major political parties. There is a possibility that Gordon Brown could hold onto power even if the Labour Party is second or even third in the popular vote. So how [...]

Customer satisfaction and the customer experience for insurance companies can make the difference between revenue gained (customer acquisition and retention) or lost (to a competitor). Organizations that habitually succeed are those that focus on customer loyalty. But what about the ability of poor experiences that create customer disloyalty. Technology, when properly applied, can greatly augment [...]

As the UK budget deficit of around £160 billion a year comes under more scrutiny there are serious concerns of a potential £1,000 a year income tax rise per person in the UK. A number of forecasters believe this is the amount by which annual income tax will need to increase over the next decade [...]

Many of the world’s most successful businesses began as a hobby. Probably the most popular company that actually began as a hobby is the major online auction site of Ebay. Other well known companies that were hobbies first include Dell Computers, Famous Amos Cookies, and Wendy’s. If you’ve been considering starting your own business, but [...]

With the passage of the new federal health care law, what will happen to the $850 million in taxes raised every year by local taxing districts around Florida to support care of the uninsured? In Palm Beach County, the Health Care District has insurance coverage for the uninsured in Palm Beach County. Approximately 40 thousand [...]